This article is ONLY relevant to Tax Year 2009. This information is historical and provided as a courtesy to SSA recipients and Taxpayers filing their 2009 Tax Return.

Who will receive the one-time $250 economic recovery payment?
The law provides for a one-time payment for certain individuals who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Railroad Retirement and Veterans benefits. If you were eligible for one of these benefits at any time during the months of November 2008, December 2008 or January 2009, you may be eligible for the one-time payment. To receive the payment, your address of record must be in one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or the Northern Mariana Islands.

This $250 Is NOT the Recovery Rebate.

This is NOT the Economic Stimulus.

This has NOTHING TO DO with your Tax Return.

This law provides for a one-time economic recovery payment of $250 to people who get certain types of Federal benefits.

WASHINGTON (AP) — About 52 million Social Security recipients started receiving $250 economic recovery checks Thursday, including many who will have to repay the money at tax time next year — either through a smaller refund or a larger tax bill.

Payments to Social Security beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients will begin going out this week. Social Security recipient checks will be mailed out in batches over a four-week period starting today. To receive payments, individuals must have been eligible for benefits during November 2008, December 2008 or January 2009. If an individual receives payment from more than one of these agencies, they will receive one payment of $250.

Watch out for scams, criminal attempts to get your personal information, your social security number or get you to pay someone to get your money for you. Be suspicious of anyone claiming they can make it easier for you to get your money. BLAH! Your $250 will be sent exactly the same way your regular benefit check or deposit always arrives. The less you know about this payment, the more vulnerable you are.

What should I do if someone calls or E-mails me asking for personal information to process my payment?

Do not provide your personal information to anyone requesting it to process your payment. If you are unsure about the identity of someone claiming to be a Social Security employee, call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) to verify the call. You may report suspicious activity involving Social Security programs and operations to the Social Security Fraud Hotline website or call 1-800-269-0271 (TTY 1-866-501-2101).

The Internal Revenue Service issued tax withholding tables in February designed to distribute the new tax credit by increasing workers’ pay a few dollars a week. However, the tables could cause millions of taxpayers to get hundreds of dollars more than they are entitled to under the credit, money that the IRS will recoup at tax time next year.

At-risk taxpayers include married couples in which both spouses work, workers with more than one job, as well as Social Security recipients with jobs that provide taxable income.

Retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from pension benefits also are getting an income boost as a result of the new withholding tables. However, pension benefits are not earned income, so they don’t qualify for the tax credit.

The IRS is close to issuing updated withholding tables for pension plans, to help retirees ensure they are withholding sufficient taxes from their payments, said IRS spokesman Terry Lemons.

WASHINGTON 3/3/2010– The Senate on Wednesday rejected a proposal by President Barack Obama to give people on Social Security a $250 bonus check.

Republicans and Democratic deficit hawks combined to reject the idea by a 50-47 vote. The plan, offered in the Senate by Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., would have added $14 billion to the out-of-control budget deficit.

Dear Corwin, you are commenting on last year’s SSA $250.
Notice the date of this post ‘2009 May 7′.
I have not written about this years bonuses, yet.
Thank you for commenting. Any insight on this years IRS or SSA changes are welcome.

The author of this blog, bosskitty, says that $250.00 payment has nothing to do with a tax return.

Actually, it does. The government should have sent the payment to everyone eligible for it, without requiring them to file a tax return before receiving it.

Now, if the recipient of $250.00 also has wages making him or her eligible for the $400.00 Making Work Pay credit, the recipient can only take $150.00 instead of $400.00 on the 2009 tax return.

That is because a taxpayer who is eligible for both payments can only get the benefit of one or the other, NOT both of them.

If the recipient with dual eligibility goes to a tax office to electronically file and does not tell the preparer about receiving the $250.00 payment, the IRS will reject the tax return and it will have to be resent.

Also, such an event is likely to result in the denial of a refund anticipation loan for the filer.

hmm i wondered about this, BK thank you. It will not be loan for me , as i live on relatively little..I do however wish that they would use this money to shore up Social Security Disability for everyone. This has been a life saving program for me. Not exactly a lavish life style but i do manage to eat. But still i wish the government would utilize all these funds , to enhance the entire social safety net, the public education system, mass transit etc. Give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach em to fish (barring pollution) they eat for a life time.